Anyone who owns a smartphone and tablet knows that charging can become a juggling act between cables and plugs. Multiply those devices by a couple of owners, and suddenly a better storage and charging solution becomes a necessity; that’s where the GriffinPowerDock 5 Charging Station comes in. It efficiently stores, charges, and organizes up to five of different devices.

The Griffin PowerDock 5 measures approximately 8″ long by 4.25″ deep; it comes with six clear plastic dividers that insert into the base so that up to five devices can be securely held, even if they are still in their cases. The PowerDock 5 is composed of white plastic on the bottom with black plastic on the top; a rubber base coupled with the weight of the devices it will hold keep the PowerDock 5 from accidentally scooting. A power brick is included so that the PowerDock 5 will only take up one wall plug.

Each charging bay on the PowerDock 5 has a USB port offering 10 watts (5 volts DC at 2.1 amps), which is sufficient to charge a full-size iPad … but don’t let that limit you. Cables are not included with the PowerDock 5, so there is no reason you can’t (or shouldn’t) use those bays to charge your Nook, Kindle, Android Phone, Windows Phone, or Android Tablet in addition to your Apple devices. There is a chance that it will charge some of the more power-hungry Android devices a little more slowly, so just keep that in mind.

The design of the PowerDock 5 is fairly simple, but the idea behind it is brilliant; keep up to five of the devices that you have floating around your house neatly stored, charging, and ready to go.

While this would be a handy product to keep on a kitchen counter or some other central location for family use …

… I keep mine on my bedside table.

Between my Kindle, iPad mini, HTC One, Nokia Lumia 1020, and iPhone 5, I’ve got enough devices to fill one of these on my own. Charging my devices used to mean keeping a stack of electronics and a snarl of cables next to my computer and by the bed, but now everything is managed in one tidy area.

I really love this.

And sure, it would be nice if cables were included, but here’s the thing: Griffin has no way of knowing if I need microUSB cables, 30-pin cables, or Lightning cables for my devices; they also have no way of knowing how many of each I might need (or if their cables would even work with my device’s cases). Not including the power cables means that I can configure the PowerDock 5 to work perfectly for my needs with the cables I already own … although for the price it would have been nice if there had been a mail-in certificate good for at least one shorter cable of my choice included. Speaking of which, things do look much tidier if you use shorter cables, but I suspect that most of us will have to settle for neatly wrapping our longer cords.

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If you need a way to charge and neatly store your family’s devices, then the Griffin PowerDock 5 is a brilliant solution. If you are like me, a device-monger that is running out of room and always looking for a charging cable, then I feel safe saying that the PowerDock 5 is the solution that you have been waiting for.

Griffin PowerDock Charging Station + Storage for 5 iPads is available directly from Griffin and from Amazon.

I've had a fascination with all types of gadgets and gizmos since I was a child, beginning with the toy robot that my grandmother gave my brother - which I promptly "relieved him of" in 1973. I'm a self-confessed gadget magpie. I can't tell you how everything works, but I'm known world-wide for using a product until I have a full understanding of what it does, what its limitations are, and if it excels in any given area ... or not.

Comments

Hm, that might come in handy for my as I wrestle with multiple charging devices on my desk. I may have to give this a closer took!

Though with regard to pricing, $100 works out to be about what you’d pay for five Apple chargers @ $19 apiece, and without the physical consolidation aspect. However, I think $19 is ridiculous for a mere Apple charger plug in the first place, so ultimately I agree with Mike that the original price is steep, but in a roundabout way. 😉